I'm trying to get good at frame by frame, in my opinion its the most difficult and will better my animating skills that are non existent. When i took a flash class i mostly learned tweens and making buttons so I never really felt like I learned much. I really want to make a short flash but i'm just practicing my Frame by frame animation and could use any constructive criticism followed by suggestions.

Did you look at any references before starting? With walk cycles in particular, it can be helpful to do a frame by frame analysis of live action video, just to see exactly how the limbs move in relation to each other.

At 5/18/12 10:09 PM, JMan290 wrote:
I was basing it off of a basic figure i did walking.
Figure
But It did come out exactly to my expectations and I'm hoping to keep refining it but what did you think?

It might help if you make the hands move at the wrists. They are naturally kind of limp and trail behind when the arm changes the direction it is swinging in. Unless the guy is supposed to be marching or something, then they would be stiff.

I agree, the arms I feel need to be fixed the most he is going to be a swordsman so he might march? But that brings up a good point when I draw people who don't march. Also when you make your "flashes" Do you think up a scene then draw the animation right then and there or do you recycle previous animations?

At 5/19/12 01:26 AM, JMan290 wrote:
I agree, the arms I feel need to be fixed the most he is going to be a swordsman so he might march? But that brings up a good point when I draw people who don't march. Also when you make your "flashes" Do you think up a scene then draw the animation right then and there or do you recycle previous animations?

I storyboard the whole thing out first. Then I make some backgrounds, then start animating. If I had a recurring character, I would recycle previous animations.

At 5/18/12 09:40 PM, JMan290 wrote:
I'm trying to get good at frame by frame, in my opinion its the most difficult and will better my animating skills that are non existent. When i took a flash class i mostly learned tweens and making buttons so I never really felt like I learned much. I really want to make a short flash but i'm just practicing my Frame by frame animation and could use any constructive criticism followed by suggestions.

Thanks!

FBF Walk attempt

There are 4 main positions with the walk cycle. Contact pose, where the right leg first touches the ground at the heel; then the down position, where the right foot flattens out, the knee bends and the other leg starts to lift; after that is the passing position, where the right leg straightens out a little as the left leg moves behind it; the last is the up pose where the right leg completely straightens and the left leg comes out in front of the right leg.

After that, the left leg initiates the contact pose and you do the same poses for the left leg

During this, the boddy moves in a natural wave. The contact pose will have the character's head higher than the down pose, and the up pose will have the characters head higher than the contact pose. The passing pose is usually either equal to or slightly above the contact pose.

The more you exaggerate the down pose and up pose, the more "weight" your character will appear to have.

In general, you want the head to move independently of the body. During the down pose, the head should move further down than the rest of the body, and during the up pose, many people choose to stretch the neck. If you don't at least do the former, your head will look rigid.

As for the hands, the further you have them swing, the better it will read. When the right hand moves all the way back, the arm will straighten and the wrist will bend further than the arm. When it comes back, the elbow will show and the wrist will bend upward.

The last thing to keep in mind is that the legs never move on the same plane. The right leg will be slightly longer than the left because it is closer. If I were you, I would not get in the habit of drawing a ground plane as a line that your character sits on top of. Rather draw a plane with a horizon so that your animation doesn't look flat.